The April 27, 1861 edition of Harper's Weekly features a
biography and picture of President Abraham Lincoln, and an incredible
description of Mr. Lincoln's declaration of war on the south. The
issue also contains fabulous illustrations of the Battle of Fort Sumter.
Newspaper thumbnails will take you to a large, readable version of that page.

opposers whatsoever; that I will
obey the orders of the President of the United States, and of the officers
appointed over me, according to the rules of the armies of the United States :
so help me God.'

" The
Washington Rifles were
inspected and mustered Into the service, and every man in the line took the
required oath. So heartily was the thing done by the entire company that the
crowd of spectators outside the fence burst out into quite a demonstration of
applause."

STEER N.W.

THE FIRST OFFICER'S STORY.

ABOUT two years ago I left the
service. I was tired of it; and as I wanted some more exciting employment I
joined a whaler. We were unlucky —somehow, I bring no luck any where—and we were
nearly empty. We were cruising up here to the north, and thinking of making for
home, as the weather had changed : and the ice forms precious quick in those
latitudes when it once begins. The captain naturally wanted to hang on to the
last for the chance of another haul.

One bright afternoon, just after
eight bells, I made up the log, and took it to the captain's cabin. I knocked at
the door, and as nobody answered I walked in. I thought it odd the captain
hadn't answered me, for there he was, sitting at his desk, with his back to me,
writing. Seeing he was employed, I told him I had brought the log, laid it down
on the table behind him, and as he made no answer I walked out. I went on deck,
and the first person I met was the captain. I was puzzled —I could not make out
how he had got there before me.

" How did you get up here?" I
said; " I just left you writing in your cabin."

" I have not been in my cabin for
the last half-hour," the captain answered ; but I thought he was chaffing, and I
didn't like it.

"'There was some one writing at
your desk just now," I said; "if it wasn't you, you had better go and see who it
was. The log is made up. I have left it in your cabin, Sir ;" and with that I
walked sulkily away. I had no idea of being chaffed by the captain, to whom I
had taken a dislike.

" Mr. Brown," said the captain,
who saw I was nettled, "you must have been mistaken, my desk is locked. But
come—we'll go down and see about it."

I followed the captain into the
cabin. The log was on the table, the desk was closed, and the cabin was empty.
The captain tried the desk—it was locked.

"You see, Mr. Brown," he said,
laughing, " you must have been mistaken, the desk is locked."

I was positive—" Somebody may
have picked the lock," I said.

"But they couldn't have closed it
again," the captain suggested ; " but to satisfy you, I will open it, and see if
the contents are safe, though there is not much here to tempt a thief."

He opened the desk, and
there—stretched right across it—was a sheet of paper, with the words " Steer
N.W." written in an odd cramped hand.

The captain looked at the paper,
and then handed it to me.

" You are right, Mr. Brown ;
somebody has been here. This is some hoax."

We sat there some time talking,
and trying to guess what could be the object of such a joke—if joke it was meant
to be. I tried to identify the back of the man I had seen at the desk with that
' of any of the crew. I could not do it. It is true I had at first taken the man
for the captain, but now points of difference suggested themselves. I had not
looked very attentively at the figure, but still I was under the impression that
the coat it had on was brown, and the hair, which appeared under the cap,
seemed, as I remembered it, to have been longer and whiter than the captain's.

Not to appear to suspect any one
in particular, the captain determined to have up all the crew. We had them up,
one by one. We examined them, and made all those who could write, write " Steer
N.W.," but we gained no clew. The mystery remained unsolved.

That evening I sat drinking my
grog with the captain in his cabin. We were neither of us inclined to be
talkative. I tried to think of home, and the pleasure it would be to see old
England again, but still my thoughts always wandered back to that mysterious
writing. I tried to read, but I caught myself furtively peeping at the desk,
expecting to see the figure sitting there.

The captain had not spoken for
some time, and was sitting with his face buried in his hands. At last, he
suddenly looked up, and said,

" Suppose we alter her course to
Northwest, Mr. Brown ?"

I don't know what it was; I can
not hope to make you understand the feeling in my mind that followed those words
; it was a sense of relief from a horrible nightmare. I was ashamed of the
childish pleasure I felt, but I could not help answering eagerly, " Certainly ;
shall I give the order ?"

I waited no longer, but hurried
on deck and altered the course of the vessel.

It was a clear frosty night, and
as I looked at the compass before going below, I felt strangely pleased, and
caught myself chuckling and rubbing my hands—at what, I can not say—I didn't
know then, but a great weight had been taken off my mind.

I went down to the cabin, and
found the captain pacing up and down the small space. He stopped as I came in,
and looking up, said, abruptly,

" It can do no harm, Mr. Brown."

" If this breeze continues," I
answered, " we can hold on for thirty hours or so, but then I should think—"

"But then—we shall find ice.
How's the wind ?"

" Steady, north by east."

We sat down and finished our
grog. I had the morning watch to keep next day. I was too restless to sleep
after it, so I kept on deck the whole of the day. Even that did not satisfy me.
I was

continually running up into the
tops with my glass, but every time I came down disappointed. The captain was as
unquiet as myself. Something we expected to happen, but of what it was to be we
could form no idea. The second officer, I believe, thought us both crazy ;
indeed, I often wondered, myself, at the state I was in. Evening came, and
nothing had turned up. The night was bright, and the captain determined to carry
on under easy sail till morning.

Morning came ; and with the first
gray light I was on deck. It was bitterly cold. Those only who have seen them
can form an idea of the delicate tints of the morning sky in those Northern
Seas. But I was in no humor to appreciate the beauties of nature. There was a
mist low down on the horizon : I waited impatiently for it to lift. It lifted
soon, and I could not be mistaken—beyond it I could see the shimmer of ice. I
sent down to tell the captain, who came on deck directly.

" It is no use, Mr. Brown," he
said ; " you must put her about."

" Wait one moment," I said ; "
wait one moment, the mist is lifting more, it will be quite clear directly."

The mist was indeed lifting
rapidly. Far to the North and West we could see the ice stretching away in one
unbroken field. I was trying to see whether there appeared any break in the ice
toward the West, when the captain, seizing my arm with one hand, and pointing
straight ahead with the other, exclaimed,

" My God ! there is a ship
there."

The mist had risen like a
curtain, and there, sure enough, about three miles ahead, was a ship seemingly
firmly packed in the ice. We stood looking at it in silence. There was some
meaning after all in that mysterious warning, was the first thought that
suggested itself to me.

"She's nipped bad, Sir," said old
Shiel, who, with the rest of the crew, was anxiously watching our new discovery.
I was trying to make her out with the glass, when the flash of a gun, quickly
followed by the report, proved that she had seen us. Up went the flag, Union
downward. We needed no signal to know her distress. The captain ordered the
second officer off into the boat. I watched him as he made his way over the ice
with a few of the men toward the ship. They soon returned with eight of the
ship's crew. It was a dismal account they gave of their situation. They might
have sawed their way out of the ice, but the ship was so injured that she could
not have floated an hour. The largest of their boats had been stove in, the
others were hardly sea-worthy. They were preparing, however, to take to them as
a last resource when our welcome arrival put an end to their fears. Another
detachment was soon brought off, and the captain with the remainder of his crew
was to follow immediately.

I went down to my cabin, and
tried to think over the singular fate which had made us the preservers of this
ship's crew. I could not divest myself of the idea that some supernatural agency
was connected with that paper in the desk, and I trembled at the thought of what
might have been the consequences if we had neglected the warning. The boat
coming alongside interrupted my reverie. In a few seconds I was on deck.

I found the captain talking to a
fine old sailor-like looking man, whom he introduced to me as Captain Squires.
Captain Squires shook hands with me, and we remained talking some time. I could
not keep my eyes off his face ; I had a conviction that I had seen him
somewhere, where I could not tell. Every now and then I seemed to catch at some
clew, which vanished as soon as touched. At last he turned round to speak to
some of his men. I could not be mistaken—there was the long white hair, the
brown coat. He was the man I had seen writing in the captain's cabin !

That evening I and the captain
told the story of the paper to Captain Squires, who gravely and in silence
listened to our conjectures. He was too thankful for his escape out of such
imminent peril to question the means by which it had been brought about. At the
captain's request he wrote " Steer N.W." We compared it with the original
writing. There could be no doubt of it. It was in the same odd, cramped hand.

Can any one solve the mystery ?

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1861.

By the
President of the United States:

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, The laws of the United
States have been for some time past and now are opposed, and the execution
thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida,
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed
by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the
Marshals by law :

Now, therefore, I,
ABRAHAM
LINCOLN, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by
the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do
call forth, the Militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate
number of 75,000, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws
to be duly executed. The details for this object will be immediately
communicated to the State authorities through the War Department.

I appeal to all loyal citizens to
favor, facilitate,

and aid this effort to maintain
the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union and the
perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough
endured.

I deem it proper to say that the
first service assigned to the force hereby called forth will probably be to
repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union,
and, in every event, the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the
objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference
with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the
country; and I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid
to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days
from this date.

Deeming that the present
condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do, hereby, in
virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of
Congress. The Senators and Representatives are therefore summoned to assemble at
their respective chambers at twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the fourth day
of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in
their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand.

In witness whereof, I have
hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington,
this fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

WAR is declared. President
Lincoln's proclamation, which we publish above, is an absolute proclamation of
war against the Gulf States. The die is now cast, and men must take their sides,
and hold to them. No one who knows any thing of the Southern people supposes for
a moment that, having gone so far as to bombard a United States fort and capture
it, they will now succumb without a fight. No one who has seen the recent
manifestations of popular sentiment in the North can doubt that the Northern
blood is up, and that they will listen no more to talk of compromise, truce, or
treaty, until they are fairly beaten.

Let us then forbear puling, and
look the situation in the face. There are some among us still who whine about
the evils of civil war. These are they who, with a burglar in their house, his
hand on the throat of their wife or daughter, would quote texts on the
loveliness of Christian forbearance and charity. Nobody —outside of lunatic
asylums—doubts that civil war is an enormous calamity. On this point all are
agreed. But as it has actually begun, and exists, what is the use of deprecating
it ? What should we think of a doctor who, summoned to visit a half dying
patient, should wring his hands hopelessly and bewail the malignancy of disease
?

The United States Government has
called into the field 75,000 militiamen, who, added to the regular force, will
swell the effective army to nearly 90,000 men. It is understood that further
calls are to be made upon the States, to the extent of 200,000 more. The plan,
as understood by military officers, is to form three camps : one at the Federal
capital, consisting of 50,000 men, who will constitute an army of observation on
the Border States, and will be commanded by Lieutenant-General Scott in person ;
another of 75,000 men, which will be located in the vicinity of
Cincinnati, with
a view to an ultimate movement down the Mississippi; and a third, of over
100,000 men, which will be situated in the suburbs of New York. Rumor asserts
that General Wool will command the New York army, and
General Sumner the army on
the Mississippi; but of these matters of course nothing is known. In the mean
time, the navy will be occupied in closing the ports of the seceded States. It
seems to be expected that by August next there will not be a port in South
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, which
will not be hermetically sealed by United States ships of war.

This is the Government programme.
On the other hand, the Seceders are gathering soldiers vigorously on their side.
It is stated that at the siege of Sumter over 7000 men were engaged, and that,
simultaneously, 5000 were on duty opposite Fort Pickens. Letters from Montgomery
say that 32,000 additional men are being mustered for an attack on Washington.
As the population of the eight seceded States, exclusive of negroes, is over
2,000,000, it should be possible for Mr. Davis to collect 100,000 able-bodied
troops on one point. With such a force, secretly if not openly favored by the
Border States, a very formidable movement might be made on Washington.

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE
Civil WAR.

IN view of the momentous events
which are impending, and of the actual outbreak of civil war, the proprietors of
Harper's Weekly beg to draw public attention to the following list of engravings
which have been published in this journal within the past few weeks, as evidence
of the fidelity and thoroughness with which they are redeeming their pledge to "
give a well-drawn, well-engraved, and well-printed illustration of every
important event that occurs." Almost all of the illustrations of the Southern
Forts have been made from drawings by United States Officers ; and the
proprietors of Harper's Weekly take this opportunity of informing Officers in
the Army and Navy serving in the South that they will be glad to receive
sketches of Forts and Scenes of Interest at the present crisis, and to pay
liberally for such as they may use. Any officer in either service can obtain the
Weekly gratuitously for six months by sending his address to this office.

The proprietors of Harper's
Weekly beg to state that they have made the most extensive arrangements for the
illustration of future movements at the South, and that the public may rely upon
finding in Harper's Weekly an accurate and reliable picture of every scene of
interest to which occurrences may direct attention.

The increasing circulation of
Harper's Weekly renders it a meet desirable advertising medium.

THE LOUNGER
CIVIL WAR

PURE lounging is rather hard work
in times like these. Every man's interest in every hour's news is so intense
that it is hard to escape the eagerness which is incompatible with true
lounging. When your military neighbor may march at any moment to battle, and
when you may march side by side with your military neighbor, the moment is so
serious that you can not help moving and thinking a little more rapidly and
energetically than is the wont of loungers.

The grave events of the last few
days will make every thoughtful citizen feel how unstable, even in the most
enlightened and prosperous countries, are the foundations of public order. The
Government, of all the governments upon the globe, which has done most, and
which promises most for human liberty and the general welfare, has passed
through a shock so tremendous that, whatever the immediate result, the
consequences are incalcuable.

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